STORY OF TWO FOOTBALL TEAMS

I was born in 1978 in a small village in Kerala, one of the southern states in India. During my childhood days there were no English medium schools. So we learnt science, social studies and mathematics in Malayalam language. We played many games in school. We played football, volleyball and badminton in school. We used to play football during holidays and Sundays. We gave more importance to football than studying.

During my childhood days, boys football team of our village played friendly matches with boys football teams of nearby villages. For that purpose we used to select eleven best football players from the boys of our village. Whenever we selected eleven players, there were one or two Muslim boys and the rest were Hindu boys. An outsider could not recognize who was a Hindu boy or who was a Muslim boy. All of us dressed alike. All of us played together, ate together and studied together. We loved each other just like brothers. Then we did not know what was religion.

I left my state in 1979 because I got a job in another state in India. After joining duty I used to visit my native place once in five or ten years for very short periods. A few months ago I again visited my native place on a long leave. After reaching my native place I noticed some changes in vegetables, fruits, flowers and trees. So I watched everything. One day boys football team of my village arranged a friendly football match with a boys football team of nearby village. For that purpose they were selecting best eleven players from my village boys. After the selection I found that there were two Hindu boys in the team and the rest were Muslims. Forty years ago there were 20 % Muslim boys and 80% Hindu boys in the team. Now it has become 80% Muslim boys and 20% Hindu boys. Majority has become minority and minority has become majority. It became an obsession in my mind. What happened to the local population?

It was not a big problem for the local people because the change happened slowly. But it was a big problem for me. I just wanted to know the reason. So I approached some village elders and asked the reason behind majority becoming minority. Then they told me that politicians ruled India and Kerala compelled Hindu families to opt for family planning. So each Hindu women delivered one or two children whereas each Muslim women delivered ten to fifteen children. For proof they told me to see the children of a Muslim woman living near my house. I found that she has delivered 13 children after marriage. Then I asked them if there are ten to fifteen children in a family how they are earning and how they are living. The answer was some of them are doing good jobs and others are doing any jobs.

Forty years ago skull caps were not visible in my village and in the nearby town. Recently when I walked through the town in my native place there were many people walking through the streets wearing skull caps. I wondered whether I was walking through Islamabad or Kabul. I like all people in the world. I do not hate any religion. But I do not like people killing people in the name of religion. The creator created prophets to unite the world, but some people created religions to divide the world.

Islam is a strange religion because it says that the creator is a Muslim. Two thousand years ago there was no Muslim, Islam or Quran in this universe. But the creator was there millions of years ago. Ten thousand years ago there were no religions in the world. So the creator has no religion. Millions of years ago the creator created this universe. Then there were no religions. So how can these people say creator is a Muslim? This religion was created 1500 years ago. Before it, there were no Muslims in the world. Ancestors of all the human beings living on planet earth were not Muslims. Suppose if I create a new religion called “abcd” now and if I say creator is “abcd”, then who will believe me? Answer is only fools.

Dividing humanity in the name of religion is a sin. Now a days religions are trying to kill religions. People are killing people in the name of religion. People fought many wars to protect or destroy religions. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria are some of the Muslim majority nations in the world. Bombings and shootings are daily happening in these countries. Sinners are killing many innocent human beings daily. My fear is that if India becomes a Muslim majority nation , then same shootings and bombings will happen daily in India also.